Mobility, Contact Center, and Enterprise Solutions Work Hand-in-hand to Ensure Top-notch Customer Service and Internal Communications at Astoria Federal Savings and Loan LAKE SUCCESS, New York – Today’s banking customers

expect to have 24/7 access to their account information and

their funds, whether they are standing in the lobby of their

neighborhood bank or paying their hotel bill while on vacation

across the country. Being left too long on hold while waiting

to speak to an agent, or a “server unavailable” message while

attempting to pay a bill online, can lose bank customers. All of

these transactions depend on reliable communications.

Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association, serving the residents of Long Island since

1888, recognizes the value of unified communications to their customers and to their own

success. Astoria Federal’s 4,000 employees serve their customers from their headquarters

and 86 branches in the Long Island area, and a mortgage broker network spanning

22 states and the District of Columbia.

Avaya Mobility Solutions Solve Workflow Challenges

Although transparent to most banking customers, Astoria Federal’s IT department plays

a critical role for all the banking services. A telecommunications problem can prevent

customers from reaching Astoria’s 800 number, or block an ATM from accessing a

customer’s account, even when the cause of the problem is external to Astoria’s systems.

When such problems occur, the IT department is contacted to resolve it. “The IT

department supports the company as a whole, and all of our customers within the tri-state

New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area who use our automated systems or our telephone

Challenge“Putting people first” is a serious commitment at Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association, the largest thrift depository headquartered in New York. With an Avaya enterprise telecommunications solution and an Avaya contact center solution already in place, the management team wanted to add secure, effective mobility options so that its tech support and contact center supervisory teams could have maximum flexibility in providing fast, effective responses to employees’ and customers’ needs.

SolutionFor the mobility and home office solution, Astoria Federal has deployed Avaya 3631 and 3641 Wi-Fi handsets, tied into the Wi-Fi network throughout the main office campus; an extension-to-cellular solution utilized for travel outside the main campus; and a VPNremote phone solution for executives who work at home. Avaya Communication Manager 4.0 with an AUDIX voicemail solution runs on an S8720 Server for the entire headquarters campus. Call Center Elite, Interactive Response, and the IP Agent application are deployed in the contact center. Avaya PARTNER® Advanced Communications System is used at the branches, with Distributed Office being piloted.

Value Created• Astoria Federal has achieved an estimated 25%

increase in IT team availability for quicker troubleshooting and enhanced reliability of all banking services.

• IT teams can troubleshoot problems while maintaining live phone contact with the affected employee.

• IP Wireless handsets deliver clear reception and voice quality everywhere in the building. Calls to IT team members outside of the headquarters building can be received via Extension-to-Cellular, further increasing responsiveness and eliminating service delays.

• Contact center supervisors will be able to multi-task efficiently while roaming throughout the center, to support agents and resolve customer issues quickly.

• Avaya Wi-Fi technology provides mobility while maintaining high security standards.

• VPNremote phones provide secure, full-featured office functionality for executives working from home.

• The Avaya Contact Center solution brings the latest technology for routing calls quickly to appropriate agents, empowering efficient handling of approximately 3,000 calls per day.

• Ease of management has been achieved for the enterprise, mobility, and branch applications.

�CASE STUdY

banking system,” said Joe McGlyn, IT

Manager. “The imperative is to resolve the

problem quickly, to minimize impact to the

customer.”

Without an effective mobility solution for IT

staff, problem resolution can be delayed, with

significant effect on employees’ workflow

and/or customer service functions. In the

words of McGlyn, “When people call to report

a problem, support technicians might have

to put the phone down and run back to the

equipment room to check the T1 slot or server

or some other potential problem area. If they

have to transfer or ‘park’ the call while they do

this, the callers don’t know what is going on

while they are on hold, and sometimes calls

can be lost. This can cause serious delays in

delivering proper service.”

Astoria Federal’s IT team sought out a

mobile solution that would enable them to

take calls at their desks and bring the calls

with them as they went to troubleshoot.

They also wanted to be able to receive

emergency calls wherever they happened

to be. Moreover, the solution had to meet

the banking industry’s standards for secure

telecommunications.

Working directly with their Avaya technical

specialist, Astoria Federal selected

the Avaya 3631 and 3641 IP Wireless

Telephones. Along with bringing the benefits

of mobility, this solution was economical

and did not require adding another system

to the telecommunications infrastructure.

Infrastructure changes or upgrades were not

required, because Astoria Federal already

had a wireless network in place at their

headquarters. This existing network met

all security standards, and was used for a

combination of laptop and PDA access.

“We already had a Wi-Fi data network in

place in our building. The wireless phones

we added use all of the same encryption

points that the APs use. As far as setup

goes, there were no major changes other

than setting up a security access group to

have voice go over the access points. This

gives us the level of security that we need

for banking transactions.”

Now, IT staff can take calls at their

desk, walk to the equipment room, and

troubleshoot the equipment, all while

keeping the caller online. They can respond

to calls wherever they are and troubleshoot

the problems wherever they may be.

McGlyn commented, “Our headquarters

campus is a three-story building with

access points on every floor. With the Avaya

IP wireless handsets there is reception

everywhere. I can go through the stairwells

and even travel the elevators with excellent

reception and voice quality. It was amazing;

when I went up the elevator I still had my

call, which was a nice feature. This solves

all of the issues that arise when you try to

use cell phones for the same purpose inside

a large building.”

McGlyn added, “Our initial deployment of

the Wi-Fi phones was so successful that

we have expanded their usage to other

technical groups, and we are also equipping

supervisors in the contact center with

them. People who use the phone generally

have one reaction – ‘Don’t take this away

from me!’ People love them because they

are intuitive and extremely reliable, with

excellent reception throughout the entire

campus. The overall mobility that one

achieves really improves our availability and

responsiveness to people’s needs. One of the

most popular features is the speaker phone,

which is valuable for hands-free work.”

Extension to Cellular and

the Home Office Solution

Enable Uninterrupted

Workflow Outside of the

Main Campus

Another important Avaya mobility solution,

Extension-to-Cellular (EC500), benefits Astoria

Federal’s tech staff by enabling them to be

reachable at their office phone number when

Our initial deployment of

the Wi-Fi phones was so

successful that we have

expanded their usage to

other technical groups,

and we are also equipping

supervisors in the contact

center with them. People

who use the phone

generally have one reaction

– ‘Don’t take this away

from me!’ People love them

because they are intuitive

and extremely reliable,

with excellent reception

throughout the entire

campus. The overall mobility

that one achieves really

improves our availability and

responsiveness to people’s

needs.

– Joe McGlyn, IT Manager,

Astoria Federal Savings and Loan

Association

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they are away from their desks or outside of

the campus. EC500, in effect, extends their

office phone number from their office to their

cell phone. When someone dials tech support,

the call rings simultaneously on the tech’s

cell phone, complete with caller ID. This

Avaya solution helps Astoria Federal’s tech

staff respond more quickly to trouble calls,

minimizing lost productivity.

McGlyn has also installed VPNremote

phones for a number of executives so

that they can continue working without

interruption if illness or any other

circumstances require them to be at home.

VPNremote allows executives to plug in a

physical Avaya IP phone at home and use

the corporate phone network as though they

are sitting at a headquarters site. Separate

home-based VPN hardware was required.

“With the VPN phone bridged on the desk

number, our executives can have their

phones ring in both locations, and if a line

goes unanswered an administrative assistant

can pick it up,” McGlyn explained. “So,

if for some reason the weather is bad or

other circumstances arise, they can work

from home. They can go right into the main

system and get their data, they can get their

voicemail, and it’s all seamless because the

solution provides a single point of contact

for business needs.”

Contact Center and

Communication Manager

Technologies Help the

Bank Deliver on its Mission,

“Putting People First”

The benefits of Avaya Intelligent

Communications also extend to Astoria

Federal’s contact center, which receives

about 30,000 calls each day. About 10

percent of those calls are routed to live

agents when callers have special needs that

cannot be met by the voice-response system.

Astoria Federal is in the process of equipping

its contact center managers with the Avaya

Wi-Fi phones, which will help increase the

productivity and call handling success of

the agents. The Wi-Fi solution will enable

managers to roam the center, improving their

access to new agents in need of coaching,

or to experienced agents dealing with a

challenging customer. Overall, they will be

able to multitask more efficiently.

The Avaya Contact Center, built upon proven

and innovative automatic call distribution

technology, offers a robust suite of call

routing solutions. Call Center software

enables Astoria Federal’s agents to answer

customer inquiries and concerns promptly

and accurately, maintaining the company’s

reputation for personal, neighborly service. A

feature of special value to Astoria Federal is

flexible call routing, which closely matches

agent skills with caller needs. This can help

to reduce costs while increasing efficiency

and first call resolution.

For enterprise communication at the

headquarters site, Astoria Federal utilizes

Avaya Communication Manager. Astoria

Federal management and employees are

particularly pleased with the Meeting

Exchange capability. This is a multimedia

teleconferencing solution with easy

scheduling, meeting administration, and

other useful features that contribute to

better connectivity within the organization.

With lower audio and Web conferencing

communication expenses, it has delivered a

rapid return-on-investment.

Astoria chose Avaya Global Services for the

maintenance, implementation, integration

and project management of their entire Avaya

solution. This included the recommendation

that they repurpose an existing S8700 Server

to an ESS environment for redundancy and

disaster recovery.

For its 86 branches throughout greater Long

Island, McGlyn is piloting Avaya Distributed

Office. Distributed Office is designed

specifically with branch offices’ need for

simplicity, reliability, and streamlined

management in mind. He commented, “It’s

a fantastic product, very easy to administer.

I think I can use the word bullet-proof

because it hasn’t gone down — it just keeps

on running without problems.”

Superior Ease of

Management

Increases IT Productivity

Astoria Federal needs to maintain the

privacy and security of customers’ financial

data, while complying with federal banking

Avaya has always made a

very strong, robust product

that works well in large

corporate environments…

Avaya’s ease of management

is absolutely superior. This

enhances the productivity of

our IT staff.

- Joe McGlyn, IT Manager,

Astoria Federal Savings and Loan

Association

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avaya.com

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regulations. As a geographically diverse

business, Astoria wants to ensure open,

reliable communications across all of their

offices and branches, but wants to do so

in a cost-effective, efficient way. Avaya’s

Unified Communications and mobility

solutions, combining IP Wireless Phones,

Extension to Cellular, VPNremote home-

office phones, multimedia, contact center,

and enterprise communications, proved the

right investment product for Astoria Federal,

and one that increases efficiencies.

In the words of IT Manager McGlyn, “Avaya

has always made a very strong, robust

product that works well in large corporate

environments. The systems are easy to

administer, and the interfaces work very well.

The new platforms are wonderful where they

have the graphical user interfaces (GUIs).

When you need to make administrative

changes in the Avaya system, you have a

single interface you can use to touch all

of the different systems. Avaya’s ease of

management is absolutely superior. This

enhances the productivity of our IT staff.”

Learn More

For more information on how Avaya

Intelligent Communications can take

your enterprise from where it is to where

it needs to be, contact your Avaya Client

Executive or a member of the Avaya

Authorized BusinessPartner program,

or visit “Do Your Research” at www.avaya.

All statements in this Case Study were made by Joe McGlyn, IT Director, Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association.

About AstoriA FederAl sAvings And loAn AssociAtion

Established in 1888, Astoria Federal, with deposits in New York totaling $13.1 billion, is the largest thrift depository headquartered in New York. Astoria embraces its philosophy of “Putting people first” by providing the customers and local communities it serves with quality financial products and services through 86 convenient banking office locations and multiple delivery channels, including its enhanced Web site. Astoria Federal originates mortgage loans through its banking offices and loan production offices in New York, an extensive broker network covering twenty-two states, primarily the East Coast and the District of Columbia, and through correspondent relationships covering twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia. To learn more about Astoria Federal, go to www.astoriafederal.com.

About AvAYA

Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service and competitiveness.

For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

© 2009 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. Avaya and the Avaya Logo are trademarks of Avaya Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All trademarks identified by ®, TM or SM are registered marks, trademarks, and service marks, respectively, of Avaya Inc All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.02/09 • UC4062-01

APPLICATIOnS AnD SySTEMS

• AvayaCommunicationManager

• Avaya8720Server

• AvayaCallCenterElite

• InteractiveResponse

• IPAgent

• Avaya3600SeriesIPWirelessTelephones

• VPNremotefor4600SeriesIPTelephones

• Extension-to-Cellular(EC500)

• AvayaMeetingExchange(webandaudioconferencing)

• INTUITY™AUDIX®MultimediaMessagingServer

• AvayaPARTNER®AdvancedCommunicationsSystem

(branches)withDistributedOfficebeingpiloted

SErvICES

• Avaya24x7Maintenance

• AvayaProfessionalServicesforimplementation

andintegration

Our headquarters campus

is a three-story building

with access points on every

floor. With the Avaya IP

wireless handsets there

is reception everywhere.

I can go through the

stairwells and even travel

the elevators with excellent

reception and voice quality.

It was amazing; when I went

up the elevator I still had

my call, which was a nice

feature. This solves all of

the issues that arise when

you try to use cell phones

for the same purpose inside

a large building.

- Joe McGlyn, IT Manager,

Astoria Federal Savings and

Loan Association

“